The elections took place under a list system, whereby voters chose from a list of parties and coalitions. 230 seats were apportioned among Iraq's 18 governorates based on the number of registered voters in each as of the January 2005 elections, including 59 seats for Baghdad Governorate.[1] The seats within each governorate were allocated to lists through a system of Proportional Representation. An additional 45 "compensatory" seats were allocated to those parties whose percentage of the national vote total (including out of country votes) exceeds the percentage of the 275 total seats that they have been allocated. Women were required to occupy 25% of the 275 seats.[2]

The change in the voting system would give more weight to Arab Sunni voters, who make up most of the voters in several provinces.[citation needed] It was expected that these provinces would thus return mostly Sunni Arab representatives, after most Sunnis boycotted the last election.[citation needed]

Turnout was high (70%). The White House was encouraged by the relatively low levels of violence during polling,[3] with one insurgent group making good on a promised election day moratorium on attacks, even going so far as to guard the voters from attack.[4] President Bush frequently pointed to the election as a sign of progress in rebuilding Iraq. However, post-election violence threatened to plunge the nation into civil war, before the situation began to calm in 2007. The election results themselves produced a shaky coalition government headed by Nouri al-Maliki.

Final uncertified results were released by the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq on Friday 20 January 2006. Certified results are expected to be released within two weeks, after the adjudication of any appeals and after lists have submitted the names of people who will take the seats.[5]

Iraqis in the predominantly Sunni city of Husaybah, wait in lines to vote, during the national election, December 15. Just a few weeks earlier, Soldiers and Marines battled insurgents in this city, located along the Syrian border.

Iraqis wait in line to vote

The election is expected to have a significant impact on the politics of Iraq. Most significant developments are expected to be:

According to an opinion poll carried out for the British Ministry of Defence in August 2005 by Iraqi university researchers and leaked to the British press, 82 per cent of Iraqis are strongly opposed to the presence of US and other coalition troops and less than one per cent believe that the coalition troops are responsible for any improvement in security.[6]

This election will see the participation of two important groups - the Sunnis and the Sadrists - who did not participate significantly in the prior legislative elections. The domestic component of the insurgency has been linked to both groups.

The elected Council of Representatives will have the difficult task of ratifying a constitution. The initial debate is likely to focus on the power of a centralized government versus a more localised power structure, in particular including policies surrounding oil and other natural resources, security and civil services.

All three main communities will go into these elections with at least two significant coalitions to choose from. Parties have split from both the main Shi'a and Kurdish coalitions and two lists from the Sunni community are tipped to win significant support in that community.

The main competition in the last election within the majority Shi'a community was between the secular outgoing Prime Minister, Iyad Allawi, and the United Iraqi Alliance which was backed by the religious authorities. This time the religious authorities have refused to back the Alliance and this may be influential in persuading some Shi'a to consider supporting Allawi. However, religious voters may prefer to vote for Sadr rather than casting their vote for Allawi, who is considered pro-American.

Some predicted that if there wasn't a balance of representation between Sunnis and Shias, that the country was at risk of increased insurgency and perhaps civil war. The current insurgency, lacking the command and control infrastructure needed for large scale military operations, is not equipped to stage more than a haphazard guerrilla campaign. The withdrawal of 150,000 U.S. and British troops on the ground in Iraq, as desired by about 82 percent of Iraqis, is likely to remove motivation for internal Iraqi conflict, since only about one percent of Iraqis believe that the coalition troops are responsible for any improvements in security in Iraq.[6] According to an interview with Rajaa al-Bhayesh, a political scientist at Baghdad's Mustansiriya University, fear of wider civil conflict—beyond the likely continuation of violence by fringe groups like al Qaeda—is likely to promote the spirit of compromise.[7]

Election results map with provinces where the Iraqi Accord Front was the largest coalition depicted in orange, provinces where the United Iraqi Alliance was the largest coalition depicted in green and countries were the Democratic Patriotic Alliance of Kurdistan was the largest depicted in lime.

The deadline for registering parties and coalitions closed on 28 October. The Electoral Commission announced that 228 lists had been registered, including 21 coalitions.

The emerging Iraqi political scene has been marked by groups of established parties running on joint lists, often grouped on sectarian or ethnic grounds. These lists are not necessarily stable, as the parties sharing a list may be past or present rivals; the situation will be even more complicated for the December 2005 election because parties can form different alliances in different governorates. The landscape is currently fluid; what follows is a list of some of the more important parties and coalitions, with a focus on alliances that have shifted since the January 2005 election.

This coalition, dominated by Shi'ite parties, was formed to contest the January 2005 election with the blessing of AyatollahAli al-Sistani, the most senior Shi'ite cleric based in Iraq. It won the most votes in that election and became the senior partner in the coalition government that ran Iraq for most of 2005. The UIA's main components were:

In advance of the December 2005 elections, Moqtada al-Sadr's party chose to join the Alliance. However, the Iraqi National Congress and Iraqi Hezbollah left the Alliance to form their own lists.

In a blow to the Alliance, AyatollahAli al-Sistani announced that he would not back any particular party for the election; he merely encouraged people to vote "according to their beliefs." He is said to have been disappointed with the performance of the transitional government.

It was initially reported before the election that the UIA seats would be split between the parties as follows:

This coalition will also contest the December elections, but the smaller Kurdistan Islamic Union, who won 10 percent of the seats in the Dahuk and Sulaymaniyah governorate elections in January, has announced that it will form its own governmental lists.

The Iraqi Islamic Party originally registered for the January elections but then decided to boycott the polls, which meant that it did not gain any seats. It has decided to participate in the December elections, forming a list called the Iraqi Accord Front with two other smaller parties, the Iraqi Peoples' Gathering and the Iraqi National Dialogue. These parties aim to tap the Sunni Arab vote; Sunni Arabs overwhelmingly boycotted the January election, but increased Sunni participation in the constitutional referendum may indicate an increased Sunni turnout for the December elections, especially because more than 1,000 Sunni clerics called on their followers to vote, according to the New York Times.[9] However, the Association of Muslim Scholars, which is influential in the Sunni community, has called for a boycott of the December elections, which could have an adverse impact on the Iraqi Accord Front's success.

Al-Risaliyun (#631), “The Upholders of the Message” (or “Message Party” or “Progressives” in the IECI translation). This is a list of Sadrists that do not support the UIA and was backed by one of al-Sadr’s collaborators, sheikh Abdul-Hadi al-Darraji.

Iraqi National Dialogue Front (#667) - A mainly Sunni coalition, unlike the accord it is avowedly secular and opposed to the new constitution. It is led by Saleh al-Mutlak, who was a leader of Sunni opposition to the new constitution.

A group of Iraqi citizens walking down a path showing their purple fingers, signifying that they had voted.

On December 22, 2005 Sunni Arab and secular Shiite factions demanded that an international body review election fraud complaints, and threatened to boycott the new legislature. The United Nations rejected the idea.

Large demonstrations broke out across Iraq on December 23, 2005 to denounce the parliamentary elections. Protesters said that the elections were rigged in favor of the main religious Shiite coalition. Many Iraqis outside the religious Shiite coalition allege that the elections were unfair to smaller Sunni Arab and secular Shiite groups. As many as 20,000 people demonstrated after noon prayers in southern Baghdad. Over 2,000 people demonstrated in Mosul, accusing Iran of involvement in the election.

Violence grew over the controversial election results. Car bombings and attacks on US and Iraqi officials continued after the elections. In Mosul Qusay Salahaddin, a Sunni Arab student leader was abducted and killed after leading a demonstration against the election results. Some 2,000 fellow students gathered at the mosque where Salahaddin's body was taken. Sunni's quickly accused militia forces loyal to one of the main parties in the Shiite Alliance bloc for Salahaddin's death. No group has yet claimed responsibility for the murder.[10]